Durant's double-double leads Texas to victory

Nov 22, 2006 - 3:27 AM
AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Kevin Durant has not played like a
freshman this season.

Durant recorded his third double-double, scoring 21 points and
grabbing 12 rebounds to lead the 25th-ranked Longhorns to a
91-60 triumph over Nicholls State.

Texas (4-1) opened the second half with a 19-6 spurt, capped by
Justin Mason's jumper with 11:53 remaining to increase their
lead to 65-37.

The 6-9 Durant scored 13 of his 21 points in the half as the
Longhorns shot 51 percent (35-68) from the field.

"We came out a little flat in the first half, and coach (Rick)
Barnes kind of let us know at halftime what we needed to work on
in the second half," Texas guard A.J. Abrams said. "He wanted
us to force the tempo a little bit because they were sagging
back. Coming into the game, he told us they would be playing a
zone so he wanted us to drive the lane and push the tempo.

"He challenged us to do that in the second half. I think we
responded well and came out and played a full-court man and
pushed the tempo to where we like it, and we got the kind of
shots we wanted due to this."

The Longhorns held a slim 24-19 lead with 7:55 to play in the
first half but used a 22-12 run, sparked by Abrams' nine points,
to close the opening 20 minutes with a 46-31 advantage.

"I thought he (Abrams) was good tonight and that he really tried
to make an effort," Barnes said. "I thought he was trying to
go out there and bother people and get his hands on some balls.
If you look at his line, he had a great line. He came out and
really tried to make a difference."

With the win, Barnes moved into second place on Texas' all-time
victories list with 195.

"No question that was an outstanding basketball team that we
just played," Nicholls State coach J.P. Piper said. "The guys
shot the ball really well tonight. The game plan was to
challenge them to take perimeter jump shots and try to take away
their interior game. They certainly responded and were able to
separate. I was proud of our kids. I thought we competed
hard."

Ryan Bathie added 14 points for the Colonels, which had lost
their first five games by an average of 27.4 points.